Introduction

Until the late 1800s, Singapore was a small, sleepy fishing village owned by the Malay Sultan Hussein of Johor. After the British East India Company led by Sir Stamford Raffles discovered its strategic value as a regional trading post in the early 1800s, the quaint fishing village quickly turned into a center of commerce and political importance for the thriving Southeast Asia trade economy. Despite ongoing conflict between other colonial powers, Singapore became a British Crown Colony in 1867, and colonial influences have since remained evident in architecture, education, and culture. Almost a century of economic prosperity followed, and Singapore developed rapidly into a major city with the influx of foreign investments and heavy immigr…